Artem Chobanian
In Russia, Federation president Dmitry Medvedev recently stated that modern Russian sport is part and parcel of Russian history. To understand his words one should learn a lot about the development of the Russian Federation, its ups and downs or simply trace the progress of some kind of sport and any team in this sport. One of the most difficult and extraordinary teams in all of sport in Russia is the club side from Chechnya, possibly the most unpredictable and unknown club in Russian football — Terek Groznyi.
First, one should try to realize that Terek is a team from the Caucasus’, the territory not many Russians ever understood and populated by people whose lifestyle and traditions stand separate from all others in the territory of Russia. One has to live there for at least 10-15 years to obtain further insight into life there. But the common history of Chechnya and Russia is full of wars, riots and misunderstandings…
Let’s look back at the situation that reigned in mid-90s. The Chechen wars almost completely destroyed that beautiful part of the Caucasus’ and life stopped there. Fortunately, after the year 2000 Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia and everything changed. Life and people returned to Groznyi, one of the biggest cities in the territory, lots of funds were raised to build houses, roads, schools, etc to let the native peoples prosper there once again. But it was all work and no cheers at that time, so Putin decided to restore a sportive spirit and helped to build a football team in Groznyi, which was called Terek, after the main river of that region.
Almost everybody at that time thought Putin had got mad. But he was a genius in fact. More and more people from other places began moving to Groznyi to enjoy football and quite soon, in four year’s time, Terek Groznyi won the First League and were promoted to Premier League. As one of the Russian newspapers wrote, it was a victory for all Russian sport, when a team from nowhere, with players nobody knew, managed to show their Caucasian character and blaze a trail to the country’s top flight!
In the USSR championship Terek played 1264 games with 574 wins, 395 defeats, and 295 draws. The best achievements in USSR times: the winner of the zonal tournaments (matches between the clubs of one city, then region and then republic of the USSR. The winners then played in interzonal tournaments) in 1960, 1961, 1970, 1972 и 1974. Champion of the Russian Federation Republic in the USSR times. The best progress made in the modern times is first place in the First League in 2004 and Russian Cup winner in 2004.
The history of the club begins in 1958 and it’s the 50th jubilee this year, though the actual foundation date is 1946 when the club was created and named Dynamo, then renamed to Neftyanik (miner in English) and it was only in 1958 that the team received its final name.
During the following 40 years the club had taken part in all Soviet local and state tournaments and championships, without much success, but the team were recognized all over the country. The long and quiet history of Terek ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. In fact, all football collapsed as well, and Terek too couldn’t survive. The following years were full of war, conflicts, and assassinations, but no football in Groznyi. The players of the club had to retrain to earn their living and only some of them were lucky enough to join Dynamo Moscow, CSKA Moscow and other large Russian clubs. Life and sport both became dead in Chechnya…
Several years later there appeared a man who changed all he could — and his son does it now — to help his people lead a better life. His name was Ahmat Kadyrov, the president of the Republic of Chechnya and the founder of the modern Terek. He and Putin did everything to create the club, and they were paid back for their efforts very quickly. Terek started life in the Second League, but the next year were promoted to the First League. The next year the club from Groznyi could have even got to the Premier League, but they were unlucky — having to win their last match, they could only draw, and sunk down from first to fourth.
However, the following season was brilliant and unforgettable! Terek guaranteed their promotion to the Premier League seven rounds before the end of the season! Moreover, they set a record for the Russian Leagues: managed to reach more than 100 points in the league and went unbeaten for 21 matches! In addition, Andrey Fedkov, Terek’s much loved forward, scored 38 goals, an unprecedented amount for Russian football.
Unfortunately, president Kadyrov died in an accident in 2004, the very year that his team produced their best results and performances in the modern era of the club. After his death, the official name of the club was changed to honor the president and now it’s FC Terek Groznyi Ahmat Kadyrov. His son, Ramzan Kadyrov was appointed president of Chechnya, and became the president of the club as well.
Since 2004 Terek have played in the Russian Premier League with variable success. They are in 11th place now, but are full of expectation and hope, because they have had some very good matches this season, like the ones against CSKA Moscow (won 1-0), Spartak Moscow (won 3-1), and Rubin Kazan (drew 0-0) when Rubin were simply lucky not to lose at least 3-0.
I believe it’s not so easy for an outsider to imagine how hard life is in Groznyi even now. So the results of the club from that city are not the major point of interest for the people living in Chechnya, however they are important. Normal life is just beginning its new circle there and for people working and living there football and Terek are the phenomena that help them to survive and lead the kind of life their parents and grandparents had. Many of the supporters who come to see the matches are the players’ relatives, because Caucasian families have numerous members, and at Terek many traditions perstist, such as one from the Soviet era when ordinary people come down to the pitch to shake hands and hug the players thanking them for the game bringing fruit and sweets to the team’s dressing room. Can you imagine anything like this in any other league with another team?
That family-like and sweet atmosphere makes Terek one of the most respected teams in the Russian Premier League. Let’s hope this wonderful team will continue to fulfill the dreams of so many in Chechnya.
